Jones Pleads To Murder Of Van Buren Teen, Gets 60 Years

Lloyd Collin Jones was sentenced to 60 years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Van Buren teen Angela Allen.

Appearing Wednesday morning before Sebastian County Circuit Court Judge Stephen Tabor, Jones also pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing visual or print medium depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child and abuse of a corpse.

He was sentenced to 60 years in prison on the murder charge, 20 years in prison on two of the child-pornography charges, and 10 years each on the remaining child-pornography charge and the charge of abusing a corpse. The sentences will run concurrently.

“You’re the kind of person that shouldn’t deserve to live,” Seth Allen, Angela Allen’s brother, said in a victim impact statement. “You are a disgrace to this planet to take her out of this world when she could have changed this world.”

Investigators believe the relationship between Allen and Jones began on a social-networking website, Mbuzzy, which developed further into text-message exchanges.

A phone number found in Allen’s cellphone records traced to Jones, leading investigators to him on Feb. 16, according to a Van Buren Police Department report.

Investigators then discovered Jones is a level 3 sex offender, found his home address in the 100 block of North Highway 96 in Lavaca, and located him at the intersection of state highways 96 and 22 by “pinging” his cellphone.

Jones agreed to speak to investigators and accompanied them to the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office.

Jones initially told investigators that he picked up Allen in a Van Buren parking lot about 6:30 p.m. Feb. 10, but after learning she was 16 years old, he pulled over to the side of the road, according to an FBI report. Jones said Allen originally told him she was 18.

There, Allen got into a black Chevy Camaro with an unidentified man and left, and he never saw her again, Jones said, according to the report.

After investigators told Jones they knew he was lying, he requested an attorney, but 30 minutes later asked to speak alone with Caudle and told Caudle he pushed Allen into the Arkansas River, according to the FBI report.

In a subsequent interview at the Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office on Feb. 16, Jones told investigators he had taken Allen to an area along the river off Arkansas 253, called Mud Town Bottoms, where he became angry when she told him she was 16, according to a sheriff’s incident report.

He then forcibly struck her in the chest, knocking her into the water, where she went under, Jones said, according to the report. Jones told investigators she may be dead but he wished she was alive.

The following day, investigators searched the property of Scott Jones, Lloyd Jones’ brother, and discovered Allen’s body in a barrel buried near a well house.

Riley told Jones she hopes he feels the pain, ache and tears of Angela Allen’s family every day for the rest of his life.

“Each day I pray that he also feels the pain and terror Angela felt. That in some way, each and every second he continues to live that God will allow him to gasp for breath, feeling the pressure of hands on his throat and fighting to get the pressure off his throat as I’m sure Angie fought to get his hands off her,” Riley said.

In addition to describing the young life Jones took from her family and friends, Colleen Allen told Jones she forgave him and had several questions she acknowledged would likely never be answered.

Colleen Allen wanted to know why Jones showed no remorse, why he didn’t just drive away when he saw how young her granddaughter was, why he had to kill her, why couldn’t he just drop her off somewhere and why did he do something that damaged not only Angela Allen’s family, but his.

Although the possibility remains she could get answers in the future, Jones offered none when Tabor asked Jones if he had anything to say before he was sentenced.

“No,” Jones said.

Allen was a student at Butterfield Junior High School in Van Buren.

During the investigation, investigators also learned of two other women who met Jones via social-networking sites who described frightening experiences with Jones just before Allen’s disappearance.

Because he was previously convicted of a violent felony and has now pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, Jones must serve his entire 60-year sentence without the possibility of parole, Tabor told him. Jones was found guilty of rape in April 2001 and sentenced to 10 years in prison; he was released from custody in September 2008, according to the Arkansas Department of Correction..

“You won’t be eligible for parole until you’re 96,” Tabor said.

To Allen’s family, Tabor expressed his best wishes and condolences; he acknowledged that words are just words, but he added that they will be in his prayers.